tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14330005Sun, 12 Oct 2014 21:19:51 +0000DADTBen QuayleCollege RepublicansOff TopicAnthony MantovaYoung RepublicansHenry HagerYoung DemocratsEthan HastertChelsea ClintonPeter BeinartJenna BushChris CoxCollege DemocratsJason MatteraOwen P. Honors Jr.VideosElena KaganJames O'KeefeJoe ManchinMarco RubioScott BrownWilliam KristolColumbia UniversityJoe LiebermanLady GagaMarine BallMila KunisMitt RomneyNew York TimesPatrick MurphyROTCScott MooreThe Weekly StandardAaron SchockBarack ObamaBeau BidenBig HyCPACCharles MoskosDeutsche Bank AGDick CheneyGeorge VoinovichGlenn GreenwaldHyman StrachmanIrving KristolJim WebbLisa MurkowskiMPAAMark KirkMatthew ContinettiMax BootMike MullenMotion Picture Association of AmericaNavyOlympia SnoweOperationYellowElephantOutServeRecruitingRichard BlumenthalSusan CollinsThe New York TimesTrack PalinVeterans CampaignAVFAdam KokeshAir Force AcademyAlan SimpsonAlvin GreeneAndrew CiafardiniAndrew RoveAndrew WilfahrtAndy SeréBen LemingBloodhound GangBrandon GreifeBrett CarterBrown UniversityChaplainsChase BankColin PowellCourage CampaignDan ChoiDanger and OpportunityDavid PetraeusDiane BlackDraftEdward P. DjerejianEric SchneidermanEric SchuckErick EricksonEvan YostFrederick KaganFreedom AllianceGOProudGary JohnsonGeorge HawleyGlenn BeckHarold FordHarvard UniversityHoward GantmanJack NewfieldJames HurleyJames L. DronenburgJason ChaffetzJoe PittsJohn BruhnsJohn EnsignJon HuntsmanJon StewartJonathan BurkettJordan RichardsonJoseph KristolJustin TimberlakeKristin CavallariLA/Valley PrideLesley De SantisLog Cabin RepublicansMACEMark WahlbergMartin SullivanMichael O'HanlonMichelle ObamaMike AlmyMike FitzpatrickMychal MassieNeocon WannabeesNoblesseObligeOliver NorthOprah WinfreyOtto LeePalm CenterPatrick ThomasPepe JohnsonPliable PortrayalsRalph PetersRaymond OdiernoRepublican National CommitteeRepublican National ConventionRich IottRich LowryRichard BurrRick SantorumRobert BorkRobert M. GatesSaxon Mortgage ServicesScumbagsSean BeilatSelective ServiceServicemembers UnitedStanley McChrystalStephen HillSteven A. HummerStolen ValorStonewall DemocratsTeddy PatakiThe New RepublicTom RicksTom TancredoUSMCVermont Law SchoolVillage VoiceWilliam MartinWolverinesYoung ConsYoung GunsZach Howellhomemadeleon panettanationalserviceOperation Yellow ElephantIt's their war. Why aren't they fighting it?http://operationyellowelephant.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com (OYE)Blogger1550125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14330005.post-2085496428452794979Sun, 12 Oct 2014 21:19:00 +00002014-10-12T17:19:51.375-04:00A credible Republican: Chris Day of Rockland County, New Yorkfrom today's <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/12/fashion/weddings/jennifer-moccio-christopher-day.html">New York Times</a>:<br /><br /><h1 class="story-heading" itemprop="headline" style="font-family: nyt-cheltenham, georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 2.5rem; font-weight: 200; line-height: 2.75rem; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">Jennifer Moccio, Christopher Day</h1><div><span style="background-color: white; font-family: nyt-cheltenham-sh, georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px;">OCT. 12, 2014</span></div><div><span style="color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.4375rem;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.4375rem;">Jennifer Leigh Moccio and Christopher Edwin Day were married Friday at the Candlewood Inn in Brookfield, Conn. The Rev. Charles Arlin, an Episcopal priest, officiated.</span></div><div><span style="color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.4375rem;">Mrs. Day, 29, is a makeup artist in Palisades, N.Y., and the owner of Sweet Little Nugget, a beauty blog and makeup product line there. She graduated magna cum laude from the University at Buffalo.</span></div><div><span style="color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.4375rem;">She is the daughter of Miriam Moccio and Salvatore A. Moccio of New City, N.Y. The bride’s father is a manager at the STS Tire and Auto Center in West Nyack, N.Y. Her mother is a Spanish teacher at Felix Festa Middle School in West Nyack.</span></div><div><span style="color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.4375rem;">Mr. Day, also 29, is a vice president at Selway Capital, an investment firm in Manhattan, where he studies investments in technology companies in Israel. He is a <a href="http://voteforday.com/">Republican candidate for Congress in the 17th District of New York</a>, representing Westchester and Rockland Counties. He graduated from Yale University and received an M.B.A. from Columbia. <i style="font-weight: bold;">He served in the United States Army from 2007 to 2011, and was last stationed as a captain at Fort Bragg in North Carolina.</i>&nbsp; [Emphasis added.]</span></div><div><span style="color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.4375rem;">He is a son of Jean C. Day and Edwin J. Day, who live and work in New City. The groom’s mother is a teaching assistant in the Laurel Plains Elementary School. His father, a Republican, is the county executive for Rockland. In 2000, he retired as a lieutenant in the New York City Police Department.</span></div><div><span style="color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.4375rem;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.4375rem;"><b>OYE Comment:</b> &nbsp;We wish the couple a wonderful and happy life together, both through the campaign and beyond.</span></div>http://operationyellowelephant.blogspot.com/2014/10/a-credible-republican-chris-day-of.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (OYE)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14330005.post-4440817426878327899Sun, 16 Feb 2014 14:40:00 +00002014-02-16T09:43:34.338-05:00Irving KristolJoseph KristolThe Weekly StandardWilliam KristolThe Third Generation: Thank you for your serviceFrom the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/16/fashion/weddings/delia-pais-and-joseph-kristol.html">New York Times</a>:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-75pnsLBuY08/UwDNDAJSJmI/AAAAAAAABI8/2AfctKNmDrU/s1600/Kristol+wedding+2014-02-16+NYT.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-75pnsLBuY08/UwDNDAJSJmI/AAAAAAAABI8/2AfctKNmDrU/s1600/Kristol+wedding+2014-02-16+NYT.jpg" height="261" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br />WEDDINGS/CELEBRATIONS<br /><br />Delia Pais and Joseph Kristol<br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.4375rem;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.4375rem;">Delia Ann Pais, a daughter of Mara D. Pais and Richard A. Pais of Bel Air, Md., is to be married Sunday evening to Joseph Max Kristol, the son of Susan S. Kristol and William Kristol of McLean, Va. Rabbi David Kalender is to officiate at the Columbus Club, an event space at Union Station in Washington.</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.4375rem;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.4375rem;">The couple met at Harvard, from which they graduated.</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.4375rem;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.4375rem;">The bride, 25, is a clinical research assistant in the sports medicine and shoulder service department at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York.</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.4375rem;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.4375rem;">Her father owns Atlantic Services, a firm in Bel Air that specializes in the engineering and inspection of boiler systems.</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.4375rem;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.4375rem;">The groom, 26, is a consultant at McKinsey &amp; Company, the management consultancy in New York. From 2009-13, he served in the Marine Corps as an infantry officer with the Third Battalion, Fifth Marines, based in Camp Pendleton, Calif. He served in Afghanistan from September 2010 to April 2011. From September 2012 to May 2013, he was a part of the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, which toured the Middle East and parts of Africa. He was last stationed at Camp Pendleton, having achieved the rank of captain.</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.4375rem;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.4375rem;">His father is the editor of The Weekly Standard in Washington.</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.4375rem;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.4375rem;"><b>OYE Comment:</b> &nbsp;We thank Joseph Kristol, grandson of Irving Kristol, for his service to our country and wish the couple all the best for a wonderful and happy life together.</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.4375rem;">-</span>http://operationyellowelephant.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-third-generation-thank-you-for-your.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (OYE)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14330005.post-437927734212931333Sat, 30 Nov 2013 18:43:00 +00002013-11-30T13:43:28.937-05:00Picking up their check<a href="http://operationyellowelephant.blogspot.com/2011/09/oye-109-pick-up-their-check.html">OYE 109</a> in action, from Letters to the Editor of The Washington Post:<br /><br /><h1 property="dc.title" style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 4px; padding: 0px;"><span class="entry-title"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/is-gratitude-to-american-military-personnel-misplaced/2013/11/19/a7dbb756-4fa3-11e3-9ee6-2580086d8254_story.html">Is gratitude to American military personnel misplaced?</a>&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: small;">Published November 19</span></span></h1><div><span class="entry-title"><br /></span></div><div><span class="entry-title"><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px;">I was troubled by Chris Marvin’s Nov. 11 op-ed,&nbsp;<a data-xslt="_http" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/chris-marvin-for-todays-veterans-service-isnt-over-when-the-uniform-is-put-away/2013/11/10/98ad9ab0-48b9-11e3-a196-3544a03c2351_story.html" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(212, 212, 212); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #005b88; text-decoration: none;">“You’re welcome,</a>” and letter writer Richard Lampl’s Nov. 15 response “<a data-xslt="_http" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/showing-gratitude-where-its-due/2013/11/14/fb306002-4b23-11e3-bf60-c1ca136ae14a_story.html" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(212, 212, 212); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #005b88; text-decoration: none;">Showing gratitude where it’s due</a>.” My husband and I always make a point of thanking military personnel, and on many occasions we have anonymously picked up the tab of servicemen if we are dining at the same restaurant. Saying “thank you for your service,” while cliched, seems to me to be a very appropriate way to show our appreciation of what they do. But it seemed these two writers were saying they don’t want such expressions of gratitude from rank-and-file Americans.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px;">Do many military personnel feel this way? If so, we’ll stop saying thank you.&nbsp;Call me old-fashioned, but I still believe that “thank you” and “have a nice day” mean something when spoken from the heart.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px;"><strong style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px;"><strong>Mindy Conway</strong>, Centreville, VA</strong>&nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div><br /></div></span></div>http://operationyellowelephant.blogspot.com/2013/11/picking-up-their-check.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (OYE)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14330005.post-5626126135526421441Thu, 14 Nov 2013 22:12:00 +00002013-12-31T18:55:52.855-05:00from The Washington PostA Letter to the Editor, published November 10, 2013.<br /><br /><h1 property="dc.title" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 4px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="entry-title" style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/making-the-choice-to-serve-in-the-military/2013/11/10/0dc28bf2-47b2-11e3-95a9-3f15b5618ba8_story.html">Making the choice to serve in the military</a></span></h1><div><span class="entry-title"></span><br /><div class="article_body entry-content classic" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 24px;">There's a bumper sticker I occasionally see that reads, "If You Love Your Freedom, Thank a Vet."</span><br /><br /><article><span class="entry-title"><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 22px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><br />I suggest that if you love your freedom, consider becoming a vet.&nbsp;Think about donning a uniform yourself, or talk to your children about joining the military after high school or college. Citizenship comes with responsibilities, such as voting, obeying the law, respecting the rights of others and defending the republic. Somebody has to do it. Why not you?&nbsp;Why not your kid?<br /><br />The fact is that we need most people to be productive members of the private sector, engaging honorably in the commerce that drives our economy. &nbsp;We should rightly respect those who choose to contribute in ways other than military Service. &nbsp;Choosing the uniform is a very personal decision. &nbsp;Indeed, it is a choice that we are blessed to have; some nations still have universal compulsory military service.<br /><br />Unfortunately, however, I think many — if not most — people don’t make a choice not to serve; they never consider it among their options in the first place.&nbsp;</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 22px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><strong style="font-weight: bold;"><strong style="font-weight: bold;">Peter Haas</strong>, Manassas, VA</strong></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 22px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Updated OYE Comment: &nbsp;Welcome to Operation Yellow Elephant. &nbsp;By this, we mean that we applaud - and agree with - the views you express. &nbsp;Members of Operation Yellow Elephant are NOT the Yellow Elephants themselves; quite the contrary. &nbsp;We, along with you, merely ask that those eligible to serve, who support what our country is trying to do through military action overseas, consider joining our military themselves. &nbsp;Thank you.</div></span></article></div><span class="entry-title"></span></div>http://operationyellowelephant.blogspot.com/2013/11/from-washington-post.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (OYE)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14330005.post-9043234930492982556Mon, 24 Dec 2012 10:52:00 +00002012-12-24T05:54:51.956-05:00James L. DronenburgNew York TimesRobert BorkThe New York Times Blows It Again!Frankly, if the New York Times cannot - still - understand basic military terminology, they should stop writing about national security; influential Americans should no longer pay attention to the Times, due to lack of confidence in their competence.<br /><br />From an otherwise unrelated obituary on former Federal Appeals Court Judge, and unsuccessful Supreme Court nominee, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/20/us/robert-h-bork-conservative-jurist-dies-at-85.html?pagewanted=all">Robert Bork</a>:<br /><blockquote><strong>A View Made Clear </strong></blockquote>One of his opinions, in Dronenburg v. Zech in 1984, dealt with the Navy’s power to fire a <strong><em>veteran</em></strong> for consensual homosexual activity. Judge Bork not only granted the Navy that power, but he also took the opportunity to make clear that a right of privacy did not exist in the Constitution. “If the revolution in sexual mores that appellant proclaims is in fact ever to arrive,” he wrote, “we think it must arrive through the moral choices of the people and their elected representatives, not through the ukase of this court.”<br /><br /><b>OYE Comment:</b><br /><br />James L. Dronenburg&nbsp;was a Sailor when he was kicked out of the Navy.&nbsp; He only became a&nbsp;"veteran" after he had served, i.e., after he was kicked out.&nbsp; Granted, his case only got to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit after he was discharged, and was fighting it.&nbsp; However, it would be more correct to say that the Navy fired a Sailor, not a veteran.<br /><br />Hel-lo!<br />-http://operationyellowelephant.blogspot.com/2012/12/the-new-york-times-blows-it-again.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (OYE)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14330005.post-2226528091167103780Mon, 06 Aug 2012 21:22:00 +00002012-08-06T17:22:48.729-04:00Go Tigers!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-67dCL0rQtSw/UCA0d-SOruI/AAAAAAAACNE/V0jGmVYBsY0/s1600/Clemson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-67dCL0rQtSw/UCA0d-SOruI/AAAAAAAACNE/V0jGmVYBsY0/s320/Clemson.jpg" width="290" /></a></div><br /><strong>Thank you to Clemson University for <a href="http://www.armytimes.com/news/2012/08/ap-combat-vet-rodriguez-to-play-clemson-football-080112/?utm_source=twitterfeed&amp;utm_medium=twitter">truly supporting Veterans</a>.</strong><br /><br /><em>Rodriguez found out this week he had been cleared by the NCAA and the Atlantic Coast Conference to join Clemson's football team as a walk-on receiver.</em><br /><br /><em>Once Rodriguez trots onto the practice field Friday in his orange No. 83 for Clemson's first practice, he'll complete a transformation from a struggling teenager to a young man who's achieved his goal after witnessing some of the most horrific fighting in Afghanistan.</em><br /><br /><em>"It's been kind of long journey," he said Wednesday.</em><br /><br /><em>Rodriguez played football at Brooke Point High in Stafford, Va., but acknowledged he let his parents' divorce and problems at school get the better of him. When his father Ray, died four days after graduation, Rodriguez was devastated and seeking a way out. He chose the Army.</em><br /><br /><em>"I went to the recruiter and said, 'Get me away from here,'" Rodriguez said.</em><br /><br /><em>Rodriguez served in Iraq during the troop surge of 2007. On his second tour, he found himself in Afghanistan and in the line of fire during one of the war's bloodiest fights, the battle of Kamdesh in October 2009.</em>http://operationyellowelephant.blogspot.com/2012/08/go-tigers.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Wek)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14330005.post-6061968583993470043Fri, 29 Jun 2012 02:33:00 +00002012-06-28T22:33:39.130-04:00Deployed Servicemen Votes Not Counting<strong><a href="http://www.thestate.com/2012/06/27/2332178/tens-of-thousands-of-service-members.html#storylink=cpy#storylink=cpy">This is bullshit.</a></strong><br /><br /><em>But the issue is a bigger concern during a presidential election year with a military force totaling more than 3 million, including active-duty and reserve forces.</em><br /><br /><em> In 2010, of the approximately 2 million military and overseas voters accounted for in data reported by the states to the Election Assistance Commission, only 4.6 percent of those voters were able to cast an absentee ballot that counted, according to the Military Voter Protection Project’s analysis of that data from the federal Election Assistance Commission, which tracks participation in voting. That compared with 5.5 percent in 2006, which was also a midterm election, the organization concluded.</em><br /><div style="color: black; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 10pt/normal sans-serif; height: 1px; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-transform: none; width: 1px;"><br /><em>Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/2012/06/27/2332178/tens-of-thousands-of-service-members.html#storylink=cpy#storylink=cpy#storylink=cpy</em></div>http://operationyellowelephant.blogspot.com/2012/06/deployed-servicemen-votes-not-counting.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Wek)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14330005.post-7796225392654842772Wed, 13 Jun 2012 00:21:00 +00002012-06-12T20:24:22.094-04:00The New York TimesAnother Correction of the Day: The New York Times: Hel-lo!The New York Times has done it <a href="http://operationyellowelephant.blogspot.com/2008/01/correction-of-day.html">again</a>.<br /><blockquote><br /><div itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><strong>OBITUARIES</strong></div><div itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/25/us/wesley-brown-first-black-naval-graduate-dies-at-85.html" style="color: #004276; text-decoration: underline;">An obituary on Friday</a>&nbsp;about Wesley A. Brown, the first black graduate of the United States Naval Academy, referred incorrectly to Mr. Brown and other students at the academy. They are called midshipmen, not cadets. (Students at the United States Military Academy at West Point are cadets.)</div></blockquote><b>OYE Comment:</b><br /><div itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br /></div><div itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">One would think that The New York Times would try to do a better job about knowing basic facts about our military. &nbsp;Think again.</div><div><br /></div><div itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"></div>http://operationyellowelephant.blogspot.com/2012/06/new-york-times-hel-lo.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (OYE)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14330005.post-1901338683686212728Sat, 19 May 2012 02:04:00 +00002012-07-12T13:29:22.628-04:00Danger and OpportunityEdward P. DjerejianSelective ServiceWilliam MartinA U.S. Ambassador (Retired) on America: Draft Registration: Hel-lo!Here are a couple of paras from Danger and Opportunity [2008], by U.S. Ambassador (Retired) Edward P. Djerejian; he touches on our topic but, surprisingly, gets a basic fact wrong.<br /><blockquote>In an NPR interview in 2007, a United States Army general in Iraq observed that we are "an Army at war, not a nation at war." &nbsp;He expressed the painful sentiment that "folks [at home] can do more to support the effort." &nbsp;During a September 2006 visit to Baghdad by members of the Iraq Study Group, one of the most effective generals we met was Lt. Gen. Peter Chiarelli. &nbsp;In an article in the journal <i>Military Review</i>, he wrote, "The U.S. as a Nation -- and indeed most of the U.S. Government -- has not gone to war since 9/11. &nbsp;Instead, the Departments of Defense and State (as much as their modern capabilities allow) and the Central Intelligence Agency are at war while the American people and most of the other institutions of national power have largely gone about their normal business."<br /><br />This is an important issue that strikes at the heart of American society and the concept of public service and sacrifice. &nbsp;Senior military officers have told me that they prefer the all-volunteer armed forces because of the professionalism they can achieve within the ranks, without having to train new recruits drafted every two or three years. &nbsp;<b><i>But we should give consideration to registering Americans for the possibility of a draft if we are faced with a major war that would require an all-out national effort.</i></b> &nbsp;We should also consider creating a system of national service in civilian government operations and institutions, in lieu of military service. &nbsp;When we started the all-volunteer armed forces in 1970 during the Nixon administration, the U.S. military began to lose a vital link to the country and American society. &nbsp;The historic concept of "the citizen soldier" was weakened. &nbsp;When we go to war we should be "a nation at war," with the citizenry engaged in various ways and, to the extent possible, from the broadest levels of society, to defend our national security interests at home and abroad</blockquote><b>OYE Comment:</b> &nbsp;Ambassador (Retired) Djerejian makes some good points above; many are worthy of serious consideration.<br /><br />However, we have <i>already</i> been "registering Americans for the possibility of a draft if we are faced with a major war that would require an all-out national effort" <a href="http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/codification/proclamations/04771.html">since 1980</a>. &nbsp;American men age 18-25, including new immigrants, are required to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selective_Service_System">register</a>. &nbsp;Failure to do so before turning 26 can lead to ineligibility for various government activities later in life, so compliance is highly encouraged. &nbsp;Just go to the Post Office.<br /><br />It seems odd that an acknowledged national security expert would allow such an error into his own manuscript. &nbsp;We noted a few other minor editing errors [mostly related to who was President when], but this is more serious.<br /><br />Conclusion: &nbsp;Even our national elites don't necessarily have a clue about some important things. &nbsp;Nor do their staffs or those who edit their books. &nbsp;Hel-lo!http://operationyellowelephant.blogspot.com/2012/05/us-ambassador-retired-on-america-draft.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (OYE)4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14330005.post-3968845007282202941Mon, 07 May 2012 23:28:00 +00002012-05-07T19:28:41.420-04:00Matthew ContinettiThe Weekly StandardWilliam Kristolet tu [et tui], William Kristol?Neocon Weekly Standard Editor William Kristol, in "<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/obamas-afghanistan-speech-a-small-view-of-the-war-sparked-by-911/2012/05/02/gIQAculnwT_story.html">Beyond Afghanistan</a>" in the Washington Post, notes that, "We are at war with Political Islamism." &nbsp;While the article is essentially off-topic for this blog, we do have one question for Mr. Kristol:<br /><br />Has The Weekly Standard ever encouraged its eligible* readers at least to consider volunteering for military service, and its not eligible* readers to encourage their eligible* relatives and friends, their circles of influence, to consider serving? &nbsp;Link(s), please.<br /><br />More importantly, have you encouraged <a href="http://operationyellowelephant.blogspot.com/2012/04/from-honorable-service-to-yellow.html">your new son-in-law</a> to consider volunteering for military service?<br /><br />We welcome any explanation you may wish to provide for publication on our blog. &nbsp;Send to OperationYellowElephant - at --- gmail // dot \ com.<br /><br />*Healthy Americans, mostly men, 18-34 are eligible to apply.http://operationyellowelephant.blogspot.com/2012/05/et-tu-et-tui-william-kristol.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (OYE)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14330005.post-3224767705867872009Fri, 04 May 2012 13:16:00 +00002012-05-05T18:04:03.477-04:00AVFEric SchuckNavyLiberal Academic in Naval Reserve<div style="text-align: left;">Operation Yellow Elephant salutes Dr. Eric Schuck, professor of economics at Linfield College in Oregon, for joining the Naval Reserve and deploying.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b><a href="http://ricks.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2012/05/02/liberal_academic_joins_navy_reserve_stuns_puzzles_several_faculty_colleagues">Liberal academic joins Navy reserve, stuns &amp; puzzles several faculty colleagues</a></b>&nbsp;</div></div><blockquote><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #1f1f1f; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.7em; margin-bottom: 1.2em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><b style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">By Eric Schuck</b></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #1f1f1f; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.7em; margin-bottom: 1.2em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><b style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Best Defense department of All-Volunteer Force [AVF] issues</b></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"></span><br /><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #1f1f1f; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.7em; margin-bottom: 1.2em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Two years ago, I was happily leading the life of a dilettante economics professor, spending a month roaming across southern England and western France with 14 economics majors. Hey -- it's a tough gig, but someone has to do it. &nbsp;And then came a phone call. &nbsp;Not just any call -- THE call. &nbsp;The call where I stopped being Dr. Schuck and instantly transformed to LT Schuck, SC, USNR. &nbsp;[ . . . ]&nbsp; Everything after that point is a blur -- heading home, telling my family, rearranging my classes for the spring and fall, training to deploy and ultimately spending the better part of a foot fungus filled year coastwatching in Kuwait.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">The past is prologue, and that is my past. &nbsp;Here is my present. &nbsp;I've been home for almost a year, and yet I still do not quite fit in. &nbsp;I wander around a campus both achingly familiar and hauntingly distant. &nbsp;I am back where I started, but it is not always clear if I am back where I belong. &nbsp;It's hard. &nbsp;But stating that is not enough. &nbsp;I am, after all, an academic. &nbsp;I cannot help but try to sort this all out. &nbsp;Rather obviously, I am different from when I left. &nbsp;Being recalled to active duty and mobilizing was a crucible event. &nbsp;It will, for the rest of my days, mark a coda in my life, mark the defining point of 'before' and 'after'. &nbsp;No one else around me has that. &nbsp;More critically, no one else around me has EVER had that. &nbsp;Where I have been and what I have done is simply completely beyond their scope of comprehension. &nbsp;Most of the time this manifests in an unfortunate but typically well-meaning ignorance. &nbsp;When other professors talk about my deployment, they either describe it as if I had the worst sabbatical ever or as if I taught in some horribly misguided semester at sea. &nbsp;They simply cannot bring themselves to say -- or to acknowledge -- that one of their own went to war. &nbsp;Such things are simply not dreamt of in their philosophies.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><i>Nine years ago I joined the Navy Reserve for one simple, clarion reason: <b>because people like me don't</b>. &nbsp;I found -- and find -- that fact to be utterly abhorrent. &nbsp;So, much to my wife's rather pronounced but mercifully understanding displeasure, I instituted my own personal one-man draft. &nbsp;I have never regretted it. &nbsp;Not for an instant. &nbsp;Make no mistake -- I am not some Fox News watching Red State zealot. &nbsp;I'm a Subaru-driving, green-tea drinking, registered Democrat, college professor from Oregon. &nbsp;To say I stand out in the military is a bit of an understatement. &nbsp;But I serve with the same honor, courage and commitment that all sailors show and I do it because I love my country and I love the Navy. Simply put, <b>this is a duty I must fulfill.</b></i></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Unfortunately, few people feel this way, and the All-Volunteer Force [AVF] makes it all the easier for them to do so. &nbsp;<i>Under the AVF, the military is a job for 'other' people (and at the risk of putting too fine a point on it, in the context of a college campus 'other people' means non-upper/middle class people). &nbsp;That's not good. &nbsp;It's corrosive to our society.</i> &nbsp;Yet it is the corrosive effects on the military itself that are most worrisome. &nbsp;It allows the military to adopt a culture and identity that is distinctly different from the society it defends. &nbsp;For the record, I do not call myself a 'warfighter' or speak of a 'warrior ethos'. &nbsp;I'm a logistics officer, and a part-time one to boot. &nbsp;Faux-Spartan affectations grow in the military, however, because they enable the military to justify its distance from the rest of society not as a failure of society but as a sign of elitism. &nbsp;<i>Civilian society encourages the creation of a 'warrior caste' because it frees them of the guilt of not serving. &nbsp;That needs to stop.</i> &nbsp;So while as an economist I fully recognize that there would be a loss in productivity by moving from an AVF to an at least partially conscripted force, <i>any losses in [military] efficiency would be more than offset by gains in equity within society</i>. &nbsp;And if we hold true to the idea that 'all... are created equal', does that not have some weight?</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"></span><br /><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #1f1f1f; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.7em; margin-bottom: 1.2em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">In short,&nbsp;<a href="http://ricks.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2012/04/23/from_his_captivity_inside_the_beltway_tom_calls_for_end_to_all_volunteer_force" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #003366; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;">I agree with you</a>: &nbsp;Even as a volunteer in the AVF, I believe the AVF era should end.</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #1f1f1f; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.7em; margin-bottom: 1.2em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><i style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a href="http://www.linfield.edu/economics/faculty.html" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #003366; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Eric Schuck</a>&nbsp;is a professor of economics at Linfield College in Oregon, where he specializes in natural resources and water usage.</i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></span></div></span></blockquote><b>OYE Comment:</b> &nbsp;We salute Dr. Schuck for finding the many courages within himself to Be A Man! &nbsp;Enlist!<br /><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #1f1f1f; line-height: 1.7em; margin-bottom: 1.2em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><br />We think America would be a much better place if patriots from all of American society served in our military, so that many more Americans, in particular the more influential sectors of our society, personally knew someone wearing the uniform.</div><div id="fb-meta-like" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: -13px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 38px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><fb:like background="none" class=" fb_edge_widget_with_comment fb_iframe_widget" font="Arial" href="http://ricks.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2012/05/02/liberal_academic_joins_navy_reserve_stuns_puzzles_several_faculty_colleagues" layout="standard" show_faces="false" style="display: inline-block; position: relative;" width="380"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline-block; font-size: 16px; height: 24px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; position: relative; text-align: justify; vertical-align: text-bottom; width: 380px;"><iframe class="fb_ltr" id="f17fe39b08" name="f33d5239e" scrolling="no" src="http://www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?api_key=107151292643652&amp;channel_url=http%3A%2F%2Fstatic.ak.facebook.com%2Fconnect%2Fxd_arbiter.php%3Fversion%3D5%23cb%3Df18910a7a4%26origin%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fricks.foreignpolicy.com%252Ff223203a4%26domain%3Dricks.foreignpolicy.com%26relation%3Dparent.parent&amp;extended_social_context=false&amp;font=Arial&amp;href=http%3A%2F%2Fricks.foreignpolicy.com%2Fposts%2F2012%2F05%2F02%2Fliberal_academic_joins_navy_reserve_stuns_puzzles_several_faculty_colleagues&amp;layout=standard&amp;locale=en_US&amp;node_type=link&amp;sdk=joey&amp;show_faces=false&amp;width=380" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-style: initial; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; border-width: initial; font-size: 16px; height: 24px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; position: absolute; width: 380px; z-index: 1;" title="Like this content on Facebook."></iframe></span></fb:like></div>http://operationyellowelephant.blogspot.com/2012/05/liberal-academic-in-naval-reserve.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (OYE)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14330005.post-4680903503169033188Sun, 29 Apr 2012 01:17:00 +00002012-04-30T06:29:37.281-04:00Big HyDADTHoward GantmanHyman StrachmanMotion Picture Association of AmericaMPAANew York TimesThe Most Awesome Story Ever Told: Big Hy<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">You&nbsp;<b><u>must</u></b>&nbsp;read <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/27/nyregion/at-92-movie-bootlegger-is-soldiers-hero.html?pagewanted=all">this story</a> from The New York Times, including the pictures and the audio:</div><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yzHCTTmZcTI/T5yOJSC92zI/AAAAAAAABD8/CPQW4xEzZoA/s1600/JP-BOOTLEG-1-popup.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="214" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yzHCTTmZcTI/T5yOJSC92zI/AAAAAAAABD8/CPQW4xEzZoA/s320/JP-BOOTLEG-1-popup.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Mr. Strachman's hobby has renewed his sense of comradeship with United States military personnel overseas, a connection formed during his service in World War II.</td></tr></tbody></table><blockquote><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/27/nyregion/at-92-movie-bootlegger-is-soldiers-hero.html?pagewanted=all">At 92, Bandit to Hollywood is Hero to Soldiers</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 22px;">MASSAPEQUA, N.Y. — One of the world’s most prolific bootleggers of Hollywood DVDs loves his morning farina. He has spent eight years churning out hundreds of thousands of copies of&nbsp;“The Hangover,”&nbsp;“Gran Torino” and other first-run movies from his small Long Island apartment to ship overseas.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 22px;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 15px;"></span></div><div itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“Big Hy” — his handle among many loyal customers — would almost certainly be cast as Hollywood Enemy No. 1 but for a few details. He is actually Hyman Strachman, a 92-year-old, 5-foot-5&nbsp;World War II&nbsp;veteran trying to stay busy after the death of his wife. And he has sent every one of his copied DVDs, almost 4,000 boxes of them to date, free to American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.</span></div><div itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">With the United States military presence in those regions dwindling, Big Hy Strachman will live on in many soldiers’ hearts as one of the war’s more shadowy heroes.</span></div><div itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“It’s not the right thing to do, but I did it,” Mr. Strachman said, acknowledging that his actions violated copyright law.</span></div><div itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“If I were younger,” he added, “maybe I’d be spending time in the hoosegow.”</span></div><div itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">[ . . . ]</span></div><div class="articleBody" style="margin-bottom: 1.7em; margin-top: 1.5em;"><div itemprop="articleBody" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; line-height: 1.467em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 15px;"></span></span></div><div itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">As for his brazen violation of domestic copyright laws, Mr. Strachman nodded guiltily but pointed to his walls, which are strewed with seven huge American flags, dozens of appreciative letters, and snapshots of soldiers holding up their beloved DVDs.</span></div><div itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“Every time I got back an emotional e-mail or letter, I sent them another box,” he said, adding that he had never accepted any money for the movies or been told by any authorities to stop.</span></div><div itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“I thought maybe because I’m an old-timer,” he said.</span></div><div itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">[ . . . ]</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 15px;"></span><br /><div itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 15px;">After Mr. Strachman’s wife of more than half a century, Harriet, died in 2003, he discovered a Web site that collected soldiers’ requests for care packages. He noted a consistent plea for movie DVDs and wound up passing his sleepless nights replicating not only the films, but also a feeling of military comradeship that he had not experienced since his own service in the Pacific during World War II.</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 15px;"></span><br /><div itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 15px;">“I wouldn’t say it kept him alive, but it definitely brought back his joie de vivre,” said Mr. Strachman’s son, Arthur, a tax accountant in New York.</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 15px;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 22px;">[ . . . ] &nbsp;The contraband, which he said could take up to three months to arrive, was addressed to an Army chaplain. &nbsp;</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 22px;">“Chaplains don’t sell them, and they fan out,” Mr. Strachman said. “The distribution is great.”</span></span><br /><div itemprop="articleBody" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; line-height: 1.467em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 15px;"></span></span></div><div itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 22px;">The movie studios are less enthusiastic. Although the most costly piracy now takes place online through file-sharing Web sites, the illegal duplication of copyright DVDs — usually by organized crime in Eastern Europe and China, not by retirees in their 90s in the American suburbs — still siphons billions of dollars out of the industry every year. And while Mr. Strachman’s movies were given to soldiers as a form of charity, studios do send military bases reel-to-reel films, which are much harder to copy, and projectors for the troops overseas.</span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 15px;"></span><br /><div itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 15px;">Howard Gantman, a spokesman for the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.mpaa.org/" style="color: #004276; text-decoration: underline;">Motion Picture Association of America</a>, said he did not believe its member studios were aware of Mr. Strachman’s operation. His sole comment dripped with the difficulty of going after a 92-year-old widower supporting the troops.</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 15px;"></span><br /><div itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 15px;">“We are grateful that the entertainment we produce can bring some enjoyment to them while they are away from home,” Mr. Gantman said.</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 15px;"></span><br /><div itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 15px;">[ . . . ]</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 15px;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 15px;"></span></span><br /><div itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 15px;">Before long, the sole evidence of his operation will be on his walls and on a little bookshelf, next to his cholesterol-control pills and a few envelopes of farina, where seven three-ring binders overflow with letters and pictures, most addressed to “Big Hy,” from appreciative soldiers.</span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 15px;"></span></span><br /><div itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 15px;">“Our downtime is spent watching movies as we clean our weapons,” one handwritten note said.</span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 15px;"></span></span><br /><div itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 15px;">Another accompanied a flag from a combat mission over Afghanistan: “I can think of no one more deserving than you, and no one who understands what this flag stands for and means to our veterans.” &nbsp;[ . . . ]</span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 15px;"></span></span></div></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>OYE Comment: &nbsp;</b>We are so pleased that Mr. Hyman "Big Hy" Strachman has found an effective way to <a href="http://operationyellowelephant.blogspot.com/2010/04/oye-108-send-something-homemade.html">Support Our Troops</a>, and commend him for doing so at some personal risk and, of course, at his own expense.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 23px;">Why? &nbsp;Because it's the right thing to do.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 23px;"><br /></span><br /><div itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">We acknowledge that this is illegal, in part because Hollywood/MPAA successfully keeps persuading Congress to extend copyright protections indefinitely, and hires high-priced corporate legal talent to convince the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eldred_v._Ashcroft">Supreme Court</a> that an indefinite series of extensions still qualifies as "limited Times" under the <a href="http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_transcript.html">U.S. Constitution</a> [Article I, Section 8].</span></div><div itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">However, we also acknowledge that few if any 1% Hollywood big shots personally know any enlisted servicemembers or junior officers -- those most at risk in combat -- and that at least the MPAA is politically astute enough to surrender (see quote above) on this point. &nbsp;We thank the MPAA for exercising good judgment and common sense.</span></div><div itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">All of that said, if the MPAA really cared about Supporting Our Troops, once it became aware of what the troops really wanted, its members would already be sending them free DVDs. &nbsp;It's not as if our troops can pay theater admission or buy authorized DVDs on FOB Nowhere, Afghanistan [or pre-2012 Iraq], anyway. &nbsp;Nor are MPAA-authorized reel screenings likely to take place beyond the very large bases.</span></div><div itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Think of how the MPAA could still leverage such good feeling for America. &nbsp;It's a missed opportunity.</span></div><div itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Please also note how much our troops appreciate "Big Hy." &nbsp;Busy servicemembers don't always send thank-you notes or, sometimes, even e-mails, but don't let it worry you. &nbsp;Just look at the photos below showing the strength of the connection between those in harm's way and a real American patriot, "Big Hy."</span></div><div itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It is profound.</span></div><div itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Thank you.</span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1PoA1hjCFwc/T5yOL2gDYRI/AAAAAAAABEE/kz8WOdUV_wk/s1600/PIRATE-slide-MZN9-articleLarge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1PoA1hjCFwc/T5yOL2gDYRI/AAAAAAAABEE/kz8WOdUV_wk/s320/PIRATE-slide-MZN9-articleLarge.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Hyman Strachman, 92, has sent hundreds of illicitly copied movies to troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">And here's why:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JGSfZyqltro/T503vNPUXlI/AAAAAAAABEQ/gmBgQEQOUrA/s1600/PIRATE-slide-3QHP-articleLarge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JGSfZyqltro/T503vNPUXlI/AAAAAAAABEQ/gmBgQEQOUrA/s320/PIRATE-slide-3QHP-articleLarge.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Dozens of letters and pictures of soldiers holding up his DVDs line the walls in Mr. Strachman's apartment in Massapequa, N.Y.<br /><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-v6piaBEEdeA/T5yNKkIJVOI/AAAAAAAABC8/FnvtTPQX8og/s1600/PIRATE-slide-B1FD-articleLarge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-v6piaBEEdeA/T5yNKkIJVOI/AAAAAAAABC8/FnvtTPQX8og/s320/PIRATE-slide-B1FD-articleLarge.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Seven three-ring binders overflow with letters and pictures from appreciative soldiers, most addressed to "Big Hy."</td></tr></tbody></table><br />http://operationyellowelephant.blogspot.com/2012/04/most-awesome-story-ever-told-big-hy.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (OYE)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14330005.post-5239804986238358036Fri, 27 Apr 2012 15:14:00 +00002012-04-29T11:14:40.251-04:00Party Rock - Iraq<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="240" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/0E8YLDDzR9I" width="320"></iframe>http://operationyellowelephant.blogspot.com/2012/04/party-rock-iraq.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (OYE)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14330005.post-1127158055099782676Sun, 08 Apr 2012 15:54:00 +00002012-04-08T11:54:18.319-04:00Vietnam Vet Joins Operation Yellow ElephantAn op-ed in The Washington Post.<blockquote><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/support-our-troops-then-bring-them-home/2012/04/06/gIQACyNb0S_story.html">Just Bring Them Home</a><br ><br > by <a href="mailto:gmasters46@gmail.com">George Masters</a><br ><br ><i>George Masters is a freelance writers and teacher in Charleston, S.C.</i><br ><br > I’m driving.<br ><br > Jack, my co-pilot, sleeps in the passenger seat. His chin rests on my upper leg. The car in front of us wears two Support Our Troops ribbons. One is yellow; the other red, white and blue. Both are made in China. On the rear bumper is a faded black MIA sticker. <i>That driver probably means well, but by now I’ve seen too many ribbons.</i> While the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq kill and maim, I think of how they are also shaping the future of returning veterans. Many of these men and women will come home and go missing, and you won’t even know it. Returning from a war is more than getting off an airplane and putting on civvies. Combat changes a person. It changed me.<br ><br > I’m driving angry.<br ><br > <b>I want to tell the guy in front of me: You want to support the troops? Get them the hell out of the line of fire. <i>Or, if you think this war is so necessary, get over there yourself. If you’re too old, pull your kids or grandkids out of college and send them.</i></b><br ><br > I’m driving sad. [ . . . ]</blockquote><b>OYE Comment:</b><br ><br > We welcome George Masters to Operation Yellow Elephant.http://operationyellowelephant.blogspot.com/2012/04/vietnam-vet-joins-operation-yellow.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (OYE)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14330005.post-2427827166443308189Mon, 20 Feb 2012 22:45:00 +00002012-04-08T18:07:29.316-04:00Irving KristolJack NewfieldMatthew ContinettiThe New RepublicThe Weekly StandardVillage VoiceWilliam KristolFrom Honorable Service to Yellow Elephant Dynasty<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hty0gxE7Zzo/T4IG1VQ3dAI/AAAAAAAABCw/TdOoA7TtkSM/s1600/19KRISTOLjpg-popup.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="228" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hty0gxE7Zzo/T4IG1VQ3dAI/AAAAAAAABCw/TdOoA7TtkSM/s320/19KRISTOLjpg-popup.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />The late Irving Kristol, a famous neocon, must be turning over in his grave.<br /><br />During the Reagan Administration [and pre-Internet], the Village Voice published <b>the</b> seminal article on chickenhawks, "America's War Wimps," by Jack Newfield [as we recall]. &nbsp;Yes, the Voice got fabulous quotes from everyone, including Dick Cheney saying, "other priorities." &nbsp;Virtually every neocon and prominent Republican in the mid-1980s was shamelessly exposed, including Irving Kristol, then Editor of The New Republic. &nbsp;'Too bad the article is not easily findable online; <a href="http://www.villagevoice.com/2005-10-18/specials/1985/">this</a> is the best we could do.<br /><br />Standard Village Voice journalistic practices always include, in the article, that the subject "failed to respond to numerous Voice messages left at his office," and the like. &nbsp;So, we were quite amused to see, in the following week's Voice, an irate letter from Irving Kristol. &nbsp;He noted that his biography in "Who's Who" indicated two years in the AUS [Army of the United States]; had the Voice bothered to contact him, he could have told them that. &nbsp;Mr. Kristol's righteous anger was fully justified. &nbsp;The Village Voice should have just apologized for their error, stating that, whatever their differences on the issues of the day, Mr. Kristol deserved respect for his service to our country, and moved on.<br /><br />Typical for the Voice, however, even when they acknowledged their screwup, they still criticized neoconservatism in general and Irving Kristol in particular. &nbsp;Oh, well.<br /><br />So what does this have to do with Operation Yellow Elephant? &nbsp;The Yellow Elephant Dynasty: &nbsp;From honorable veteran Irving Kristol to non-veteran son William Kristol to the next generation, marrying Yellow Elephant Matthew Continetti as reported in The New York Times Sunday, February 19, 2012:<br /><blockquote><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/19/fashion/weddings/anne-kristol-matthew-continetti-weddings.html">Anne Kristol, Matthew Continetti</a></div><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px;">Anne Elizabeth Kristol, a daughter of Susan S. Kristol and William Kristol of McLean, Va., is to be married Sunday evening to Matthew Joseph Continetti, a son of Cathy Continetti and Joseph F. Continetti of Springfield, Va. &nbsp;Rabbi David Kalender is to officiate at the Ritz-Carlton in Washington.</span></blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px;">The bride, who is taking her husband's name, is studying for a master's in secondary education at George Washington University. &nbsp;She graduated from Washington University in St. Louis.</span>&nbsp;</blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px;">Her father is the editor of The Weekly Standard, the political journal, in Washington. &nbsp;The bride is the granddaughter of Gertrude Himmelfarb, the late historian and author, and the late Irving Kristol, the political commentator and author.</span>&nbsp;</blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px;">The bridegroom, 30, is the editor of The Washington Free Beacon, a political website, and works in Washington. &nbsp;He is also a contributing editor for The Weekly Standard. &nbsp;He is the author of "The K Street Gang: &nbsp;The Rise and Fall of the Republican Machine" and "The Persecution of Sarah Palin: &nbsp;How the Elite Media Tried to Bring Down a Rising Star." &nbsp;He graduated from Columbia.</span></span></blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px;">His mother is a reading specialist for Fairfax County Public Schools in Fairfax, Va. &nbsp;His father is a contract specialist at the General Services Administration in Washington.</span></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px;"><b>OYE Comment:</b></span><br />We wish the happy couple well. &nbsp;Let's just say that we're not worried about a next generation, and leave it at that.http://operationyellowelephant.blogspot.com/2012/04/from-honorable-service-to-yellow.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (OYE)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14330005.post-9028400590253158270Sun, 12 Feb 2012 17:47:00 +00002012-02-12T21:52:20.806-05:00Mitt RomneyNoblesseObligeTom RicksTom Ricks joins Operation Yellow Elephant!Tom Ricks, former Washington Post reporter covering military issues, now blogs at <a href="http://ricks.foreignpolicy.com/">The Best Defense</a> at Foreign Policy.<blockquote><b><a href="http://ricks.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2012/01/30/romney_s_sons">Rommney's sons?</a></b><br ><br >An acquaintance of mine who served with the 1st Infantry Division in Vietnam, and whose son and son-in-law are both preparing to deploy to Afghanistan, wonders why <a href="http://www.chron.com/news/nation-world/article/Romney-defends-5-sons-lack-of-military-service-1572191.php">none of Governor Romney's many sons</a> ever <a href="http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/08/08/questions-about-romneys-sons-and-military-service/">saw fit to join the military</a>. Romney's response is, Hey, I thought it was a volunteer military. Yet if everyone volunteered at the rate his family has, we would be forced to re-institute a draft. I wonder if he has ever discussed joining the military with any of his sons, and if so, whether he encouraged them or discouraged them.</blockquote><b>OYE Comment</b>: We thought <a href="http://operationyellowelephant.blogspot.com/2005/08/mass-gov-romney-r.html">the same thing</a>, and warmly welcome Tom Ricks to Operation Yellow Elephant.<br ><br >Let's see if anyone responds to our comments [<a href="http://ricks.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2012/01/30/romney_s_sons#comment-962896">#1</a> and <a href="http://ricks.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2012/01/30/romney_s_sons#comment-963381">#2</a>] to this effect.http://operationyellowelephant.blogspot.com/2012/02/tom-ricks-joins-operation-yellow.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (OYE)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14330005.post-6560616721849243163Fri, 16 Dec 2011 03:26:00 +00002011-12-15T22:27:49.549-05:00Air Force Academyfrom the U.S. Air Force AcademyThey'll be deployed to the box soon enough. Enjoy! <br ><br ><iframe width="320" height="240" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/YLBlHXor9Hs" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br ><br >Hat tip to <a href="http://joemygod.blogspot.com/2011/12/theyre-sexy-and-they-know-it.html">JoeMyGod</a>.http://operationyellowelephant.blogspot.com/2011/12/theyll-be-deployed-to-box-soon-enough.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (OYE)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14330005.post-7018375092065779502Sun, 11 Dec 2011 16:12:00 +00002011-12-11T11:27:30.831-05:00Bloodhound GangMarine Deployment Video from IraqHere's another deployment video from Iraq, <a href="http://youtu.be/KplDb81NLdc">this is how we win wars</a>:<br ><br ><iframe width="320" height="240" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/KplDb81NLdc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br ><br >Here's the official music video, <a href="http://youtu.be/xat1GVnl8-k">Bloodhound Gang - The Bad Touch</a>:<br ><br ><iframe width="320" height="240" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/xat1GVnl8-k" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br ><br >http://operationyellowelephant.blogspot.com/2011/12/marine-deployment-video-from-iraq.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (OYE)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14330005.post-3521736053149011415Wed, 23 Nov 2011 15:37:00 +00002011-12-11T11:24:47.469-05:00Beau BidenEric SchneidermanDelaware Attorney General Beau Biden: What his Deployment Means for AmericaServing in a war zone teaches anyone many things, including intolerance for nonsense, a nicer term for bullshit. Delaware Attorney General Joseph R. "Beau" Biden, III [D] has told those who served in Iraq at the same time,<blockquote>I've said many times that serving with people like you was the greatest honor of my life. The sacrifice from you and your families is remarkable, and in my estimation, too few in our nation understand the depth of it.</blockquote> And here's what it means for America: Attorney General Biden, along with New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman [D], has taken the lead in insisting on the integrity of our legal system, that "robosigner" fraud on our judicial system be punished, and that those responsible, including at the corporate managerial level [the military equivalent of which is command responsibility] be <a href="http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-11-23/n-y-delaware-can-intervene-in-bofa-8-5-billion-accord.html">held to account</a>.<blockquote>“This action concerns far more than the financial interests of a few sophisticated investors,” [Manhattan Federal] judge [William Pauley] wrote. “And the intervention of the state AGs in this action will protect the interests of absent investors.”</blockquote><b>OYE Comment:</b> We believe that serving in a war zone has ensured that Delaware Attorney General Biden will always find the time and energy to do the right thing for his state and, indeed, for America.<br ><br > And if more of our civilian political leadership, at all levels, had shared such experiences, our country would be a better place.<br > <br> Hat tip to <a href="http://www.americablog.com/2011/11/legal-and-moral-victories-against.html">AmericaBlog</a>.http://operationyellowelephant.blogspot.com/2011/11/delaware-attorney-general-beau-biden_24.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (OYE)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14330005.post-803581629137959019Wed, 23 Nov 2011 15:28:00 +00002011-11-24T10:47:33.553-05:00Beau BidenDelaware Attorney General Beau Biden: Pics from his Deployment to Camp Victory, Baghdad, Iraq<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-N7kJJG3c7rY/Ts5jo0HQPoI/AAAAAAAABCQ/wcSuK7tgbwU/s1600/100109_beau_biden_500.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="400" width="267" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-N7kJJG3c7rY/Ts5jo0HQPoI/AAAAAAAABCQ/wcSuK7tgbwU/s400/100109_beau_biden_500.jpg" /></a></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0IzPCcX1WEM/Ts5jpNQGknI/AAAAAAAABCY/w7gw95wc2iU/s1600/large_vie-president-joe-biden-iraq-son.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="302" width="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0IzPCcX1WEM/Ts5jpNQGknI/AAAAAAAABCY/w7gw95wc2iU/s400/large_vie-president-joe-biden-iraq-son.jpg" /></a></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gnF-Ln2GCBQ/Ts5jpD4ZAeI/AAAAAAAABCo/2nduuGqXg7w/s1600/6a00d8341c4df253ef0105360b05e9970c-800wi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="340" width="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gnF-Ln2GCBQ/Ts5jpD4ZAeI/AAAAAAAABCo/2nduuGqXg7w/s400/6a00d8341c4df253ef0105360b05e9970c-800wi.jpg" /></a></div>http://operationyellowelephant.blogspot.com/2011/11/delaware-attorney-general-beau-biden.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (OYE)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14330005.post-5094297400959722431Sat, 19 Nov 2011 21:05:00 +00002011-11-20T20:09:06.391-05:00Jonathan BurkettKristin CavallariMarine BallMila KunisScott MooreCelebrities at Marine Corps BallsWe salute Sgt Scott Moore, USMC, for starting a trend: YouTube invitations to celebrities, in his case actress <a href="http://www.eonline.com/news/marc_malkin/mila_kunis_talks_balls_manly_justin/275412#ixzz1eBRjce2E">Mila Kunis</a>, to attend the Marine Corps Birthday Ball. November 10 was the 236th birthday of the U.S. Marine Corps; celebrations take place all month.<blockquote>"It's a huge honor just to be invited, it is. [ . . . ] Talking to people and hearing their stories, being a part of something that truly I know nothing about but I'm incredibly eager to learn."</blockquote><b>OYE Comment</b><br /><br />We've always said, if more prominent Americans personally knew some of our enlisted servicemembers or junior officers - those most at risk in combat - our country would be a better place.<br /><br />And now <a href="http://movies.yahoo.com/news/mila-kunis-attends-marine-corps-ball-n-c-190513368.html">Mila Kunis</a> is one of them. What a great lady!<br /><br />We also take note of another celebrity, "Dancing with the Stars" alum <a href="http://chineselaundry.tumblr.com/post/12990079446/kc-exclusive-attending-last-nights-marine">Kristin Cavallari</a>, who attended a Marine Ball in California with Lance Cpl. Jonathan Burkett. Hat tip to <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/19/kristin-cavallari-marine-corps-ball_n_1102786.html">Huffington Post</a>.http://operationyellowelephant.blogspot.com/2011/11/celebrities-at-marine-corps-balls.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (OYE)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14330005.post-7398432686820738333Mon, 14 Nov 2011 18:00:00 +00002011-11-19T16:13:19.090-05:00Columbia UniversityColumbia University Actively Recruits VeteransThe New York Times reports that Columbia University is <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/14/education/columbia-actively-recruits-veterans.html">actively recruiting veterans</a> for its School of General Studies, an undergraduate unit specially created for adult students including veterans, which is separate from Columbia College, its traditional undergraduate school.<br /><br />Even <a href="http://www.doonesbury.com/strip/archive/2011/11/06">Doonesbury</a> has taken note of the need for good colleges and universities to recruit our 21st Century veterans.<br /><br />As we have said before, if more Americans personally knew enlisted servicemembers or junior officers - those most at risk in combat - or recent veterans, America would be a better place.<br /><br />Props to Columbia University for supporting this effort.http://operationyellowelephant.blogspot.com/2011/11/columbia-university-actively-recruits.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (OYE)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14330005.post-4817394504427464134Mon, 10 Oct 2011 22:39:00 +00002011-10-11T20:45:27.818-04:00Ben QuayleDADTLA/Valley PrideUSMCProps to California's LA/Valley Pride: Welcome, Marines!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GrSwBInSzHo/TpN0W_HzKyI/AAAAAAAABBo/hAspbLW0oJ4/s1600/2011-10-07%2BLA%2BTimes.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 253px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GrSwBInSzHo/TpN0W_HzKyI/AAAAAAAABBo/hAspbLW0oJ4/s400/2011-10-07%2BLA%2BTimes.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5661997094784936738" /></a>Operation Yellow Elephant salutes <a href="http://www.lavalleypride.org/">LA/Valley Pride</a> in California.<br /><br />Now that "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is history, organizers invited all military branches to recruit at San Gabriel Valley Pride in Pasadena. Unfortunately, while the Marines were interested, they had no money. From the LA Times:<blockquote><b><a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-1009-gay-pride-marines-20111010,0,2982377.story">Marine recruiters reach out at gay pride event in Pasadena</a></b><br /><br />[ . . . ]<br /><br />Alan Chan, San Gabriel Valley Pride's secretary, invited military personnel in the Pasadena recruitment office across from the college to set up booths at the event. The Navy, he said, did not have adequate staffing. The Army had previously committed to another event. The Air Force did not respond. And the Marines, who alone expressed interest, nearly had to plead poverty because the branch had exhausted its funds for the fiscal year and did not have $150 for the exhibitor fee. <i>LA/Valley Pride covered the fee, said Executive Director Paul Waters.</i> [ . . . ]</blockquote><b>OYE Comment:</b><br /><br />If the Marines' participation at this event results in the eventual enlistment of one qualified recruit, we'll consider it a success.<br /><br />We salute not only the Marine Corps Pasadena recruiting office but also the GLBTQ community in the area, who realize that, if more Americans personally knew someone wearing the uniform, especially enlisted servicemembers and junior officers - those most at risk in combat, our country would be a better place.<br /><br />How about you, Ben Quayle? Would you encourage the GLBTQ community in your district to invite military recruiters to their event?<br /><br />Hat tip to <a href="http://gay.americablog.com/2011/10/headlines-we-like-to-see.html">AmericaBlog Gay</a>.http://operationyellowelephant.blogspot.com/2011/10/props-to-californias-lavalley-pride.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (OYE)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14330005.post-5166220434392688196Sat, 24 Sep 2011 16:05:00 +00002011-09-24T20:05:19.788-04:00DADTFreedom AllianceGary JohnsonJon HuntsmanOliver NorthRick SantorumStephen HillGay Soldier Booed: Any Comment, Oliver North?On September 9, Oliver North [LtCol USMC (ret.)], Founder & Honorary Chairman of <a href="http://www.freedomalliance.org/">Freedom Alliance</a>, praised post-9/11/2001 American servicemembers. We're posting it in its entirety:<blockquote><b><a href="http://www.freedomalliance.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2826&Itemid=1">A Decade of War</a></b><br /><br />[September 9, 2011]<br /><br />The Japanese attack on the U.S. Pacific fleet required 58 warships, 350 aircraft and more than 10,000 sailors to carry out. Though the raiders killed 2,403 Americans, only five U.S. Navy vessels were damaged beyond repair. In Washington, Congress immediately responded with a nearly unanimous declaration of war; only one member voted no. The American people answered the call to duty, and 16.5 million young men and women were soon in uniform. The U.S. became the leader of a grand alliance supported by both political parties. Everyone knew right from the start who our enemies were and that the war would end only when those enemies surrendered - unconditionally. <br /> <br />That’s hardly the case with what happened on and after 9-11-01. Until that terrible morning, most Americans never had heard of Al Qaeda or Osama bin Laden. The attack bin Laden carried out with just 19 radical Islamists aboard four commercial airliners killed 2,973 Americans – more than the Japanese had at Pearl Harbor. In strategic terms, the 9-11-01 attack was a near-perfect “economy of force” operation. <br /><br />Though there was no declaration of war, hundreds of thousands of young Americans volunteered to take up arms against an enemy they understood but Washington has steadfastly refused to name. Every one of the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Guardsmen and Marines on duty today either “joined up” or “stayed in” because of what took place on 9-11-01. In the decade since, more than 2 million of them – the brightest and bravest of their generation – have served in the extremely difficult and dangerous places where this long war is being fought. And they continue to do so, despite Washington’s inability to define victory and despite the growing antipathy of our mainstream media. <br /><br />The nation that once honored its war heroes with parades and celebrations now all but ignores the extraordinary sacrifices being made on our behalf. Instead, politicians, pundits and the potentates of the press constantly seek ways to denigrate those who serve in our nation’s uniform.<br /><br />Those who define what is “news” for the rest of us have beaten Abu Ghraib like a rented mule for more than a half-dozen years. Newsweek magazine created a totally fictional story about a Koran being flushed down a toilet at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility, generating scores of attacks in Muslim-majority countries. U.S. Senator Dick Durbin likened our troops to those who served Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin and the Cambodian despot Pol Pot. And a reporter for The New York Times claimed that most of those serving in harm’s way are just “poor kids from Mississippi or Alabama or Texas who could not get a decent job or health insurance.” Those who believe this drivel don’t know the warriors of 9-11. <br /> <br />This week’s memorial services on the 10th anniversary of that devastating attack on our soil will justly focus on the first responders. The firemen, police officers, EMTs and everyday citizens who risked - and sometimes lost - their lives that day are heroes and deserve to be recognized as such. So are those who watched the events that day and decided to don a uniform and fight back at those who wrought such death and destruction on our shores. <br /> <br />Thanks to young Americans wearing helmets, flak jackets, flight suits and combat boots, Saddam Hussein – the Butcher of Baghdad – is no more and Osama bin Laden is dead. Al Qaeda, the vicious radical Islamist movement bin Laden spawned, is fractured and badly damaged but still alive in Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen, and Chechnya and seeks to take advantage of uncertainty in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya. The Ayatollahs in Iran are guiding violence in Syria and threatening stability in Iraq. <br /> <br />While we recall those who were lost on 9-11-01, we would do well to also remember those who serve in our armed forces because of what happened that day. They forfeited the comforts of home, absented themselves from the affection of loved ones and went into harm’s way to protect us from those who would once again visit unspeakable terror on our homeland. They, too, deserve our thanks and prayers in this decade of war, because it isn’t over yet.</blockquote><b>OYE Comment:</b><br /><br />We agree. For Oliver North:<br /><br />As you know, pursuant to a law passed by Congress and signed by the President, according to our Constitution, and implemented according to its terms by the President, the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a non-heterosexual Soldier currently serving "in harm's way" in Iraq asked a question of the Republican Presidential candidates in the September 22 debate in Orlando FL. The audience booed the questioner, and none of the candidates called them on it. Immediately after the debate, only <a href="http://www.jon2012.com/">Jon Huntsman</a> and <a href="http://www.garyjohnson2012.com/">Gary Johnson</a> disagreed, calling it "<a href="http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/09/unfortunate-condemnation-of-gay-soldier-boos-in-post-debate-spin-room.php">unfortunate</a>." <a href="http://www.ricksantorum.com/">Rick Santorum</a> later <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2011/09/24/2011-09-24_rick_santorum_i_didnt_hear_booing_of_gay_soldier_questioning_dont_ask_dont_tell_.html">concurred</a> with them, but <a href="http://www.spreadingsantorum.com/">Santorum</a> later <a href="http://thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/santorum-retracts-previous-condemnation-of-audience-booing-gay-soldier/politics/2011/09/24/27502">retracted his condemnation</a>.<br /><br />So here's <b>our question for Oliver North</b>:<br /><br />Do you agree that non-heterosexual Servicemembers deserve the same respect from the American people that you rightly support?<br /><br />If so, have you said so publicly [link, please]?<br /><br />If not, why not?http://operationyellowelephant.blogspot.com/2011/09/gay-soldier-booed-any-comment-oliver.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (OYE)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14330005.post-6582427182396202896Sat, 10 Sep 2011 22:49:00 +00002011-09-10T19:18:12.017-04:00DADTGOProudGay Yellow Elephants? Ten More Days<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rymc7g710k4/Tmvr0dbWtwI/AAAAAAAABBY/sNRGmHgQb5Q/s1600/tn_goproud_mousepad.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 150px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rymc7g710k4/Tmvr0dbWtwI/AAAAAAAABBY/sNRGmHgQb5Q/s400/tn_goproud_mousepad.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5650869443951507202" /></a><a href="http://www.goproud.org/">GOProud</a>, an organization of gay conservatives, strongly supports the continued fight against terrorism:<blockquote><b><a href="http://www.goproud.org/ten-years-later-the-fight-must-continue/">Ten Years Later: The Fight Must Continue</a></b><br /><br /><b>GOProud on the 10th Anniversary of the Attacks of September 11th</b><br /><br />(Washington, DC) – This weekend is the 10 year anniversary of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. In response, the Board of Directors of GOProud, the only national organization representing gay conservatives and their allies, issued the following statement:<br /><br />“The most powerful and tangible way that we can honor the 10th anniversary of these horrific attacks is to <b>recommit to fighting and winning the global war on terror</b>. [emphasis added]<br /><br />“The threat posed by the spread of radical jihadist Islam is no less real today than it was ten years ago.<br /><br />“Radical Islam is a barbaric ideology, one that preaches destruction of the west and advocates brutality against women, gays and religious minorities.<br /><br />“The truth is that for gay and lesbian people across the globe there is no single bigger threat than the spread of radicalized Islam.<br /><br />“We must remain vigilant in the war on global terror. We must defend Israel, a bright light of freedom, in a dangerous area of the world. We must stay on the offensive, actively working to stop the spread of radical Islam and supporting efforts to remove regimes in the Islamic world that fail to recognize basic human rights.<br /><br />“The greatest tribute to those who sacrificed their lives on September 11, 2001 is the defeat of the murderous ideology behind those despicable attacks.”</blockquote><b>OYE Comment:</b><br /><br />O.K., GOProud, effective 20 SEP 2011: Has your organization encouraged its members [healthy and 34 or under] <i>at least to consider</i> volunteering for military service, to <b>recommit to fighting and winning the global war on terror</b>?<br /><br />We couldn't readily find anything to this effect on your website.<br /><br />Please let us know. Thank you.<br /><br />Hat tip to <a href="http://joemygod.blogspot.com/2011/09/goproud-on-911-anniversary.html">Joe. My. God.</a>http://operationyellowelephant.blogspot.com/2011/09/gay-yellow-elephants-ten-more-days.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (OYE)0